ON Saturday, 14 November, the Grand Slam of Darts gets underway in Wolverhampton in what is the penultimate TV major of the 2026 season before the 2027 PDC World Championship.
Luke Littler once again comes into this tournament as the favourite and frontrunner to win his third Grand Slam of Darts title on the bounce, something only Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen have achieved.
Mr Vegas – an online casino brand – has again been named as the tournament sponsor, continuing its relationship with the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) which began in 2023.
This year, the nine-day event (ending on 22 November) has had a change in format, mainly to accompany the extended field of competition, which now lands at 48 rather than the 32 that it has previously had.
The format for the Group Stage changed drastically this year, with 16 groups of three made, where only the winners make it out and into the Second Round.
How did they qualify?
Due to the extended player pool this year, there were more avenues for players to qualify from. Nine players were able to qualify for Wolverhampton due to them featuring in a major TV final in 2026.
Players could also qualify through winning one of the 34 Players Championship events this year, of which 13 managed to do so.
Six players qualified via European Tour events, while 10 players secured their spot through the PDC’s youth, development and challenge tours, as well as through the Women’s Matchplay and Women’s Series.
Lastly, the final 10 spots went to those who qualified through the PDC tour card holder qualifying event – where crowd favourites Ricky Evans and Stephen Bunting secured their spots while world number 10 Danny Noppert fell short.
Who was drawn into each group?
The full group stage is as follows:
Group A: Luke Littler (1) – Niels Zonneveld – Beau Greaves.
Group B: Jermaine Wattimena (16) – Alan Soutar – Lisa Ashton.
Group C: Josh Rock (8) – Kevin Doets – Tommy Morris.
Group D: Stephen Bunting (9) – Cameron Menzies – Raymond Smith.
Group E: Gerwyn Price (4) – Sebastian Bialecki – Joe Hunt.
Group F: Ryan Searle (13) – Andrew Gilding – Charlie Manby.
Group G: Jonny Clayton (5) – Rob Cross – Anton Ostlund.
Group H: Wessel Nijman (12) – Niko Springer – Adam Sevada.
Group I: Luke Humphries (2) – Joe Cullen – Paolo Nebrida.
Group J: Luke Woodhouse (15) – Krzysztof Ratajski – Tom Sykes.
Group K: James Wade (7) – Ricky Evans – Cam Crabtree.
Group L: Michael van Gerwen (10) – Jeffrey de Graaf – Henry Coates.
Group M: Gian van Veen (3) – Bradley Brooks – Carl Sneyd.
Group N: Chris Dobey (14) – Martin Schindler – Jan Schmidt.
Group O: Ross Smith (6) – Gabriel Clemens – Rusty-Jake Rodriguez.
Group P: Nathan Aspinall (11) – Karel Sedlacek – Maik Kuivenhoven.
You can follow the 2026 Grand Slam of Darts on Sky Sports, DAZN, viaplay, and PDCTV in various regions.
